Win Tix to the Portland International Beerfest

The folks at GoTime.com are giving away two prize packs to the Portland Int's Beerfest. If you've never been to a beer festival, you really don't know what you are missing. Forget all the notions of a "drunkfest" and expect a great festival atmosphere--not a party atmosphere. Check out their blog here for a chance or multiple chances to win and follow them @Follow @gotime_portland on twitter. For more info on the Portland Beerfest, including their featured beers, click here.

Payment Deferred

Why "Payment Deferred"? The author of the Horatio Hornblower books, C.S. Forester, wrote another lesser-known book called "Payment Deferred." Of course, Horatio Hornblower was adapted to screen by A&E with Horblower portrayed by the exceptional Ioan Gruffudd. Hornblower is a hero who time after time reveals reveals his heightened sense of duty, honor, and courage while in service of the British Royal Navy. On the other hand, William Marble, who is the anti-hero in Payment Deferred, reveals himself to be a deceitful coward who murders his wife's brother in order to get some quick cash to cover his wife' out-of-control spending. In the immediate future, his finances take an upturn, but Marble can never fully enjoy his good fortune, and, in the end, he gets his just payment.

We are in a culture that thrives on pay-me-later transactions where fiscally irresponsible banks support loans that cannot be repaid and fiscally irresponsible individuals who ratchet up bad debt for instant gratification. The recent bank crisis due to predatory lending is the first crack in the ceiling. I can't help but think that we, as a society, have turned our back on doing what is dutiful, honorable, and courageous in favor of instant gratification no matter the cost. The cost is real, the payment is just deferred.